Mother of 6 tries to avoid deportation
October 20, 2008 at 3:52 PM | Comments (69)


In what may be the start of more such battles during the waning months of the Bush administration, about 30 demonstrators and elected officials rallied outside a Chicago federal immigration office Monday in hopes of stopping the deportation of a mother of six.

Francisca Lino, 41, was scheduled to leave the country this week after she entered illegally in 1999 and was arrested in 2005 during a hearing for her application for legal permanent residency.

A petition to delay the deportation for another year that was delivered Monday by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Lino's attorney temporarily halted the removal. Authorities are considering the petition's argument that Lino's family, all of whom are either U.S. citizens or in the country legally, would be put under financial and emotional duress if she left.

"We will review it and make a determination within the next few weeks," said Gail Montenegro, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lino, who works in a chocolate factory in far west suburban Geneva, is the main provider for her family, said her attorney Chris Bergin. Her husband Diego Lino, 34, is recovering from a stroke.

"Allow Mrs. Lino an additional year at least to get her house in order," said Gutierrez, before hand-delivering the petition. "They all rely on her to take care of them."

Standing outside the ICE office with her family and other supporters, Lino said she had believed she was on the road to resolving her status in 2005. After being turned away at the southern border in 1999, she entered illegally a few months later, eventually landing in Chicago, where she met her husband. She applied for legal status in 2000 and was arrested five years later during a hearing for that application.

"I went in there very content and optimistic," Lino said about the 2005 hearing. "They had already given me permission to work and a Social Security number."

--Antonio Olivo, Chicago Tribune

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